“Game Of Jokes, Changing The Game In Benin City” – Charles Opurum
The entertainment ecosystem in Benin City has exploded in the last few years with young entertainers punching above their weight and competing to outdo each other in organizing the next best event. A direct result of this healthy competition is consistent improvement in quality.
At the forefront of this entertainment, renaissance are the comedians, and 2021 saw several very successful shows headlined by these humor merchants.
This success appears to have spilled over into 2022 with the Game of Jokes headlined by MC Casino on New Year’s Day.
I was in attendance myself and can say this is the best show of its kind I’ve ever attended in Benin City.
The lineup of entertainers was impeccable, their performances were spot on, and the variety of comedians guaranteed there wasn’t a monotony associated with local comedians who are often constrained to repeat jokes to the same audience at different shows.
We had diverse comedians from across Nigeria on one stage dishing out rib cracking jokes; the homeboys MC Edo Pikin, Home of Laffta, and Young Elder, were mixing it up with their contemporaries from out of town, entertainers such as Forever, Arinze Baba, Alincology, Kelvin Sapp, and Destalker to mention a few.
The guests in attendance – resplendent in their stylish, and fashionable attires – were thoroughly entertained by the performances and as if shelling out decent sums of money to purchase tables and tickets wasn’t enough, they showed their appreciation by spraying money at the entertainers on stage.
Tables for MC Casino‘s Game of Jokes ranged from 300k, 500k, 1m, to as much as 1.5m, and they were all sold out! This is a scenario that used to be the exclusive preserve of the Lagos comedy heavyweights such as AY, Bovi, Alibaba, and Basketmouth.
It’s safe to say that while the glass ceiling has been smashed by MC Casino, what’s even more significant is that it didn’t happen in the traditional big cities of Lagos, Abuja, or Port Harcourt, but in the more modest Benin City, incredible!
By the time the star act – 2Baba – for the night made an appearance, the crowd had already been hyped up by the world-class performances from the comedians.
2Baba didn’t disappoint, initially dovetailing wonderfully with Influence Akaba on the remix of his hit song Osamakwe before taking the audience on a rollercoaster ride from yesteryears to the present.
In all of this, we mustn’t neglect the event organizer behind the success of this, and a lot of credit must go to Engraced Events and its CEO Emmanuel Itoto. This young man is making a name for himself as an organizer of high-quality events and the only way for him is up. Also special shout-out to the people of Benin who trooped out en masse to support the Lamogun Boy. With this explosion of the entertainment industry in the ancient city, the future is looking very bright for entertainers.
